Agriculture & Food, Volume 4, 2016

IS THERE ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION FOR ORCHARDS ON ISRAELI FAMILY FARM?

Tal Shahor

Pages: 552-563Published: 6 Jun 2016
Views: 734 Downloads: 144

Abstract: In Israel there are a number of organizational models of agricultural farms. Two main models are small family farms and large co-operational ventures on “kibutzes,” which are communities organized as communes. This article addresses whether or not there are economies of scale in farm size. The research was done using data about the citrus fruit industry. The importance of researching this topic stems from the notion that if there are economies of scale in farm size, then there can’t be economic justification for the existence of small family farms. The results of the study on the citrus orchard industry show that in this industry (and apparently also in part of the other agricultural industries), there is no economic advantage to farm size. From an economic perspective, there is no reason to reject out of hand the existence of small orchards, which are family owned.